Bradshaw: Concussions Have Caught Up With Him

Ktbs ^ | 4.13.11

[InvisibleChurch]

: (

[slumber1]

Apparently Thomas (Hollywood) Henderson was right after all

[DManA]

“I forgot the numbers. It’s pretty staggering;

That is sadly funny and illustrates his point.

[Haiku Guy]

Something is going to have to change in football. Changing societal standards and a longer life expectancy have caught up with the game. It is no longer acceptable to be creating so many players with long-term disabilities.

The problem is, how do you prevent it? Do you improve padding and protection or eliminate it? Do you install accelerometers in helmets and enforce medical evaluation and rest periods whenever a certain G-force is exceeded?

Of do we go back to watching baseball?

[wendy1946]

NFL football is overly violent because of the way it's played. This is what football ought to look like. Either that or the updated version which the Naval Academy uses. Funny thing is that neither Oklahoma nor Alabama ever seemed to get QBs hurt in those days; wishbone QBs were getting hit, if at all, by one guy their own size more or less and they saw the blow coming. You never had this scene in which a QB stands there for five or six seconds waiting for receivers to clear zones and then getting hit blind-side by the fastest lineman on the other team, and that's because a wishbone QB never had to look at a zone pass defense.

[Perdogg]

Nobody forces them to play football. Have you noticed that a good deal of the players on the Steelers from the late 70s/early 80s have already died?

[Perdogg]

NFL PING

FReepmail scott says to be added to, or to be taken off the NFL Ping list...

[cherry]

MOST people start losing some abilities as they grow older....and yes memory too....what Bradshaw is claiming can be no more than simply getting older...

and IMO if TPTB would actually test aggressively for steroids and HGH and ban players, you wouldn't have these 280 pound robots out there....

[Eric in the Ozarks]

When football was first played, the rugby style ‘scrum’ was in vogue. Wonder if this would help ?

[Jemian]

Nobody forces them to play football but there is enormous pressure in many areas to let your young men play, especially if they have developed their bodies. Fortunately we were overseas when my son was in high school and so I didn’t have to face this. But, noticing the high number of long-term debilitating injuries and how the young men do NOT really receive the care they need (sacrifice all for the team!), I decided not to let my son play football if the opportunity ever presented itself. It just isn’t worth it in the long run.

[Haiku Guy]

Nobody forces them to play football. Have you noticed that a good deal of the players on the Steelers from the late 70s/early 80s have already died?

Nobody forces them to work in a coal mine.
Nobody forces them to install asbestos.
Nobody forces them to work the high steel.
Etc...

No industry is permitted to permanently injure the bulk of their workers.

[OKSooner]

"The problem is, how do you prevent it? "

Don't make it worse by making the season longer. Look at how long the season already is for teams that go thru the playoffs and to the Super Bowl.

Have a number of years for eligibility just like the college teams.

"Five years to play four" or something close to it. That's plenty of time on the NFL minimum salary for a guy to get set for life and take care of his mom too.

[rochester_veteran]

When playing football at any level, it’s inevitable that you’re going to get your “bell rung”, as it’s a collision sport.

Upgrades to helmet design to prevent concussions have been happening since the 70’s and so have rule changes may, such as the “helmet to helmet” rules and teaching players from Pop Warner football on up to NOT lead with their helmets on tackles and blocks.

[Sawdring]

It is a rough game and those who play should know what is happening to the players once they retire. I'm surprised you don't see more suicides. Guys that have been congratulated at every turn, adored all their lives by classmates, great looking women coaches and everyone around them. Then they can't play, the money dries up, the pain from playing starts to set in and unless you were smart with your money you have to get a regular job like the rest of us.

[lacrew]

I like the accelerometer idea. Some packages are shipped with an inexpensive device which ‘breaks’ and changes colors if handled too roughly. I don't see why this couldn't be done in a helmet.

Alot of the big hits to the head are now coming from the ground, so improvements in artificial turf may be the next step. I've designed both football and baseball fields...and the rubber used in the baseball field is deliberately mixed with sand, to slow down the ball, if it hits the ground, to make it more ‘natural’. I've always thought that if sand were added to the football fields, it would 1) Slow down the players, and reduce the energy when they hit each other 2) Absorb more energy from a helmet, instead of elastically ‘bouncing’ the helmet back off the turf.

Slowing down the game might annoy wide receivers and some fans; but, I think it would help alot.

[Perdogg]

There is a problem now with more and more players weighing over 300 pounds.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Have you noticed that a good deal of the players on the Steelers from the late 70s/early 80s have already died?"

The most bizarre death (as of yet) had to have been Steve Courson:

"Courson stayed near Pittsburgh for the rest of his life. In November 2005, he died in an accident at his home in Farmington, Pennsylvania. Courson had been cutting down a 44-foot tree on his property, but a gust of wind changed the direction of its fall, and he moved into its path while attempting to prevent his dog from being struck. The dog, a black Labrador retriever, was found alive guarding Courson's body when the tree was removed"

[Sawdring]

I think I forgot a comma in there.

[OKSooner]

Nice video...

[Texas Eagle]

Apparently Thomas (Hollywood) Henderson was right after all

Was he the one who said Bradshaw was so dumb he couldn't spell "cat" if you spotted him the "c" and "a"?